Greenberg Traurig has bolstered its international arbitration offering in London with the hire of a trio of Pinsent Masons partners. 

Jason Hambury – Pinsents' former global co-head of international arbitration – Gurmukh Riyat and Clea Bigelow-Nuttall have joined the US firm as shareholders. 

Greenberg Traurig's executive chairman, Richard Rosenbaum, said the hires were a "heavyweight arbitration team with an exceptional track record in high-value disputes across key industry sectors, including infrastructure, construction and energy."

He added that the firm was committed to being a "major force in disputes, both litigation and arbitration, civil and criminal" and that nearly 30% of its 140 lawyers in London now practice in disputes work. 

Hambury has joined the firm after 28 years at Pinsents, while Riyat also spent more than 20 years at Pinsents, joining as a trainee in 2003 and making partner in 2017. Meantime Bigelow-Nuttall made partner at the firm in 2022, having joined nine years ago. 

The trio bring significant experience in arbitration, litigation and project advice in the energy, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. Hambury's clients have included US and European contractors and the government of an African country, which he advised on the defence of three UNCITRAL arbitration proceedings concerning claims totalling $750m concerning alleged overlifting of crude oil. 

Riyat's notable work includes representing a contractor JV in an UNCITRAL arbitration seated in Australia against a consortium of oil majors. The dispute concerned the largest work package on the world's most significant LNG development; the contract value was in excess of $5bn, with claims and counterclaims amounting to $500m. 

Bigelow-Nuttall joined Pinsents from French boutique Derains & Gharavi in 2015 after qualifying at Hogan Lovells. She focuses on commercial and investment arbitration, and previously represented a North African state in respect of parallel contract and treaty arbitrations at the ICC relating to a large infrastructure project in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.

At Greenberg Traurig the trio will work as part of a London international arbitration practice that is led by Mohammed Khamisa KC, who joined in 2020 from Mishcon de Reya and focuses on the Middle East. 

Pinsents has also boosted its international arbitration bench in London recently, hiring construction disputes partner James Cameron earlier this week from specialist construction and energy practice Fenwick Elliott.